Heretofore, as a method of asymmetrically isomerizing an allyl alcohol to give an optically active aldehyde, there are known methods of using a transition metal complex as described in Non-Patent Documents 1 to 4. However, in these methods, the catalyst activity is low, and the optical purity of the resultant optically active aldehyde is not sufficiently satisfactory.
Further, there are known methods of using a complex of transition metal such as rhodium or ruthenium, as described in Non-Patent Documents 5 to 16. However, these methods require high substance specificity and therefore could not be said to be versatile methods.
Thus, heretofore, the realization of new synthetic method with high versatility for producing an optically active aldehyde, which enables highly-selective and high-yield production has been desired.